Theatre Personalities of South India bear the water mark of the bygone age drama and the neo classical forms. The popular theatre has its root ingrained in the Southern Theatre. Theatre Personalities of Tamil Nadu are the pillars of Southern Theatre.
Annadurai Canjeevaram Natarajan has been one precursor and distinguished Theatre Personalities of Tamil Nadu. For his polemic view of the society and the theatrical aura reprimanding a voice over concerning the ideas and the propagandist attitude "Bernard Shaw of Tamil" and pioneered the drama of ideas. Annadurai Canjeevaram Natarajan was regarded as the revolutionary of Tamil theatre. His popular plays include propagandist Chandrodayam i.e. `Moonrise` and the historical Sivaji kanda indu samrajyam i.e. "The Hindu Empire Founded by Shivaji. Theatre personality G. Swaminathan was also regarded as the one of the innovative performer. His famous play Bhagavata Mela received recognition. At the age of 15, his interest in acting made him renowned. He was trained under all the surviving maestros, including Balu Bhagavatar. The modern Tamil theatre however evolved, as the Indian Theatre has absorbed the cultural richness of the classical drama, the folk traditions of the medieval times and above all the influence of the West. In those developing phases of Tamil theatre several Theatre Personalities of Tamil Nadu contributed for its contemporary growth. The commencement of modern Indian theatre can be traced to the days of S. P. Srinivasan and S. Ramanujam and M Karunanidhi.
Purisai Duraisamy Kannappa Thambira, Balamani Ammal, Nagerkoyil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, Annadurai Canjeevaram Natarajan, Vadivel Arumugham, Balu Bhagavatar, M. Krishnamurthy Thyagaraja Bhagava, Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Chaudari, Pammal Vijayaranga Sambandha Mudali, T. S. Rajamanikkam, S. Ramanujam, Cho Ramaswamy, Singanallur Venkataramana Iyer Saha,S. Doraiswami Sundaram, T. T. Sankaradas Swamiga, G. Swaminathan, Komal Swaminathan,Purisai Natesa Subramaniya Thambira, Tirupati Venkata Kavulu, Natesan Muthuswamy K. B. Sundarambal, Indira Parthasarathy, Kalamandalam Gopi, R. S. Manohar, C. Kanniah are the numerous notable theatre personalities of Tamil Nadu.
Theatre Personalities of Andhra Pradesh, with their theatrical excellence, flourished in the present south-eastern state of Andhra Pradesh since the second century BC. The first mention of Telugu theatre in the Telugu language appears in Palkuriki Samantha`s poetical texts, Basavapuranamu and Panditaradhya charitramu. He, one of the theatre personalities of Andhra Pradesh, narrated a play, Siriyalu charitra or "Siriyalu`s Story".
Acharya Atreya,Gurazada Venkata Appa Rao,Vemuri Gaggaiah, Lekhraj Kishinchand Mirchandani, Kalyanam Raghuramaiah, Banda Kanakalingeswara Rao, Sthanam Narasimha Rao, Pasumarty Venu Gopala Krishna Sarma, Vedam Venkataraya Sastry, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Shaik Nazar,Vedantam Satyam, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Peesapati Narasimha Murty, Panuganti Lakshmtnarasimha Rao, Chilakamarthi Lakshminarasimham, Gudipati Venkata Chalann are the praise worthy theatre personalities of Andhra Pradesh.
Theatre personalities of Karnataka are an integral component of the culture and tradition of Indian state of Karnataka. All states of the Indian Sub- continent reflect the rich heritage of entertainment. Besides amusing the people`s mind, the theatres introduced various talented personalities to the world. Karnataka also exhibits a long tradition of theatres including folk theatres as well as ritual theatres. Theatre Personalities of Karnataka contributed to the growth of and prominence of Kannada theatre. Mahesh Dattani, Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao Govind Ballal Deval Masti Venkatesa lyengar, B. Jayashree, V. Ramamurthy Girish Raghunath Karnad,Chandrasekhar Kambara, Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth, Kuvempu, P. Lankesh, Mysore Venkatappa Subbaiya Naidu, Parwathavani, Samsa, Dharmavaram Ramakrishnamacharyulu, Chandrashekhar Patil, Bellave Narahari Sastri, H. S. Shiva Prakash, K. V. Subbanna, A. V. Varadachar, Gubbi H. Veeranna, P. T. Narasimhachar T. Hombaiah, B. Jayamma,R. Nagarathnamma, Adya Rangacharya, Bellary Raghava, Mysore Srinivasa Sathyu, Chikka Honnappa Bhagavathar, T. Raghavachari, Sadasivarao Garud, Mohamed Peer, T. P. Kailasam, Handiganur Siddharamappa, K. Hirannayya are the repeated few, the names etched in gold when the domain of Kannada theatrical scenario is brought to the fore.
Theatre Personalities of Kerala paved the path of theatrical culture in Malayalam state since decades. The theatre personalities of Kerala are of existing generation, Kutiyattam, fully established by the ninth century, is probably the longest-surviving continuous theatrical tradition in the world. V. T. Aravindaksha Menon, Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, C. V. Raman Pillai, C. I. Parameswaran Pillai, K. T. Mohamed, Omchery, Kunchu Kurup, Pattikkantodi Ramunni Menon, G. Sankara Pillai, Kainikkara Kumara Pillai, Kainikkara Padmanabha Pillai, E. V. Krishna Pillai, N. Krishna Pillai, N. N. Pillai, P. Sundaram Pillai, Vechoor Thankamani Pillai, K. L. Krishnan Kutty Pulavar, S. L. Puram Sadanandan, C. J. Thomas, Ponkunnam Varkey, Moozhikulam Kochukuttan Chakyar, Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair, Kottarakkara Sridharan Nair, N. P. Chellappan Nair, P. J. Antony, Bharat Gopi, C. Sankaran Nair, Pazhoor Kunjan Marar, C. N. Sreekantan Nair are the conspicuous stars amongst the sky of Kerala theatre.
